When designing context-aware applications for smart spaces, developers must provide interface specifications for perceptual components, which often come from multiple vendors. The authors outline a set of structuring principles that leverage such specifications. IBM has introduced two tools that facilitate the development of smart space applications. Chilix is a middleware library for bridging disaggregated systems, and SitCom is an integrated development environment enabling context modeling, and simulation and lifecycle management of perceptual components. Chilix provides an attractive lightweight alternative to legacy middleware for distributed computing. SitCom supports perceptual component developers, service developers and context-modeling experts across the development life cycle.